LONG BEACH STATE NOTEBOOK: James Ennis' participation will be a slam dunk

James Ennis is headed to the Final Four in Atlanta. The Long Beach State senior will compete in the State Farm Slam Dunk Contest that will be part of Final Four activities this weekend.

The competition will be held at Georgia Institute of Technology on Thursday at 4 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN. There also will be a three-point shooting competition.

Ennis led the 49ers to a third consecutive Big West regular-season title and previously was a starter on the squad that won the Big West tournament and a trip to the NCAA tourney. Clips of his best dunks are on the school website, www.longbeachstate.com.

A look at the week at Long Beach State, where the athletic teams still will be playing while other students are on spring break:

Men's volleyball (19-7, 15-6 MPSF): The 49ers won two games on the road last week and were led by Taylor Crabb, who became the 20th player in school history with more than 1,000 kills. The 49ers also clinched a berth in the MPSF postseason tournament. They moved up to No. 2 in the AVCA rankings and are tied for second in the MPSF with UC Irvine (18-6, 15-6) behind top-ranked BYU (19-3).

The 49ers stay on the road but closer to home this week by visiting USC (5-15) Thursday at 7 p.m. and Pepperdine (12-9, 11-9 MPSF) Saturday at 7 p.m. They will have one conference game after this weekend and then prep for the MPSF tourney. Eight teams will advance and will play first-round games at campus sites. One 49ers win will secure a first-round home game.

Softball (23-14, 5-1 Big West): The 49ers swept UC Riverside last weekend and will host Fullerton for three this weekend, a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday at

1 p.m. Darian Tautalafua had 10 RBIs in the series to earn Big West player of the week honors.

The 49ers are tied for second with Pacific and trail first-place Hawaii (6-0) by a game. Kim Sowder's team has gotten improved pitching from Amanda Hansen (6-4, 3.53) and Christian Carbajal (6-3, 3.93) in support of ace Erin Wesley-Jones (11-6, 2.77). The team also has five starters with four-plus home runs. Tautafalua has nine.

Sand volleyball (7-1): The 49ers host two matches today, against Cal State Bakersfield at 11 a.m. and Loyola at 3 p.m., and then visiting Irvine on Friday to play Hawaii and Irvine Valley College. Times have yet to be announced.

Matt Ulmer, the women's assistant volleyball coach and head coach of the beach squad, has been named to the AVCA's "30 Under Thirty" list of the top young coaches and personnel in the sport.

Women's tennis (14-3, 5-1): Jennie Hilt-Costello's team is 10-0 at home this season but will be on the road for three consecutive matches, including Sacramento State on Thursday (3 p.m.), UC Davis on Friday (2 p.m.) and Pacific on Saturday (10:30 a.m.). The team will have one more home game left after this week before the conference tournament begins.

Sarah Cantlay is 14-3 at No. 3 singles, just ahead of Karolina Rozenberg, who is 13-3 while playing in the bottom half of the draw.

Other sports: The baseball team won its series against Northridge last weekend and will visit Pacific (7-15, 0-3) for three games on Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.). Fullerton, Cal Poly and UC Riverside share the early Big West lead at 3-0 after sweeping their opponents last weekend, including Riverside's surprise sweep of UC Irvine The women's water polo team (21-4, 2-2 BW), ranked No. 9 nationally, hosts Northridge on Saturday at noon The track team will compete in the Sam Adams multi-event meet Friday and Saturday.